


Kiss A Ginger Day

by juniorstarcatcher



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College, F/M, First Kiss, Kiss a Ginger Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:14:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22229230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juniorstarcatcher/pseuds/juniorstarcatcher
Summary: It’s Kiss a Ginger Day and everyone is breathing down Hux’s neck. But the only person he wants to kiss him is Rose Tico.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 16
Kudos: 169





	Kiss A Ginger Day

It was, without question or competition, the worst day of Armitage Hux’s calendar year. Every year, when the proper, real holidays were over, he would watch the pages of the calendar rip their way through January, the dread mounting like the drums of war as they came closer and closer to that most damnable of fake, Internet viral holidays.

The strain of January 12th - he would not call it by that cursed name, Kiss a Ginger Day - was lessened somewhat by his recent promotion within the University’s Oversight and Management Department. As a PhD candidate now leading an entire university division, he could hide away in his office before skirting as quick as he could off to his car. But he couldn’t escape the absolute hysteria that this day induced amongst the university population. The holiday had been initially embraced by the school as a marketing ploy - they were founded by a red-headed man, and his face was still emblazoned on their emblem - and now, the practice of snapping a photo kissing a redhead for social media was treated as some kind of deranged school spirit exercise, one that often saw Hux cast in a leading role. 

Hux did not take sick days. Not even today, when it felt like he would lose his lunch every time someone so much as glanced longingly in his direction. 

Over the years on the university campus, he’d been subjected to a laundry list of abject horrors on this day. There was the year the entire Phi Mu sorority descended upon him, which left him feeling rather like a Hitchcock heroine trapped in a horror scene. 

He’d been victim to Chess clubs, elder, tenured professors, fraternities in their entirety, and, on one occasion, the provost of the university - Leia Organa-Solo, the most formidable and intimidating and brilliant woman he’d ever met - who gave him a kiss on the cheek for a video for the school’s Instagram page that left him blushing. 

This year, he promised himself he would not allow any shenanigans to cross his lips. And so far, he’d been successful. 

The only wrench in his plan? Rose Tico. 

The first time IT had sent her to his office to help him set up his administrative password - easily the least sexy activity in existence - he’d almost fallen out of his seat when she leaned beside him to access his terminal. 

He hadn’t realized IT workers could be so pretty. Or that they could make his heart race so fast that it threatened to expose the man beneath his cool, professional exterior. 

She was so smart. So funny. So full of life and energy and conviction and fire that every time she came near him, he worried he would catch ablaze and activate the smoke detectors. 

It was nothing more than a workplace crush. Nothing more than a little infatuation. 

But it also couldn’t ever be more than that. It wouldn’t be professional. Wouldn’t be proper. 

And she was always kind to him, always teasing and warm and antagonizing in the best of ways, but that didn’t mean she would want anything more from him. What would a woman like her want with a man like him, anyway? She was so far above him, he didn’t think he could ever so much as brush her with the tips of his fingers. 

So, when she arrived at his office, hair in twin buns knotted at the base of her neck and her eyebrows quirked in surprise, he felt that familiar zing in his chest at the sight of her, standing in his doorway in her brilliant yellow coat. 

She glowed. Hux had never met a person who glowed before, who had the singular talent of bringing light and color into an otherwise dull, grey world. 

“There you are. There were carrot sticks and celery in the break room today and you didn’t eat a single one. I thought you must have died.” 

Hux swallowed, trying to repress the flutter in his chest as she smiled at him.  She’s just being polite. She’s just being nice. Besides, you aren’t in the mood for chit-chat. You need to be invisible today. 

“No. I’ve just been very busy.” 

She nodded and started for the WiFi router on his desk, but skidded to a stop, blinking at him, as he slunk down into his seat, trying to disappear behind his laptop screen. “What’s that on your head?”

“A baseball cap.” Hux cleared his throat and stared at his screen blindly. She was so close now, her attention so finely locked on him that he could almost count her breaths. “Surely as an American you’re familiar with the concept.”

“Yeah, I’m also familiar with the employee handbook that forbids them to be worn except at university-sanctioned sporting events.” She knew what a stickler for the rules he was. She made fun of him about it every chance she got. Then, realization dawned. She gasped. “Oh my god. You’re hiding, aren’t you?”

“I don’t hide.” 

“It’s Kiss a Ginger day. You’re hiding. What, Hux, you’re allergic to kisses or something?” 

Rose returned to her work, giving Hux and opportunity to peer over his screen at her as she went about her tinkering. 

“I’m surprised you even know about the tradition,” he said. “I was sure you wouldn’t go in for that stuff.” 

She chuckled. “What stuff? Fun?”

“Yes, I’m sure fox hunting is fun for the hunters. Not so much for the fox. I am tired of being the fox.”

Hux’s heart hammered against his chest, slamming faster and faster as he waited for her reply. 

“That’s a shame.” 

“Why?”

Rose looked up from the machine in front of her and met his eyes, bold and sure. She knew exactly what she was doing. Hux watched as her lips curled into a perfect, heart-shattering, secretive smile. “Because I do go in for this kind of stuff. Now I guess I’ll need to find another Ginger to kiss.” 

“I -“ 

Hux didn’t know what to say. How could he say anything when she’d stolen all of his words, all of his excuses, all of his defenses? 

Hux reviled Kiss a Ginger Day. Now, the one woman in the world he wanted to kiss him was standing here, saying she wanted the same thing. 

And he was too much of a coward to say anything. 

“Anyway,” Rose said, her cheeks flooding with color as she bolted for the door, “your WiFi should be faster now. And hopefully, when you have your next kiss, you’ll be the hunter instead of the fox.” 

For the rest of the day, Hux couldn’t stop thinking about it. Couldn’t stop thinking about his fears, his cowardice. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe he could just turn off that part of his heart, ignore his feelings, and avoid her for the rest of time.

But then, as he was walking out of the Administration Building, he saw her standing there, up on the pedestal of the statue of their university’s founder, holding a sign that read I NEED A GINGER TO KISS. 

It was dark. And snowing. And she looked more perfect than he could ever have imagined.

He knew, in that moment, that if he didn’t kiss her, he would be the prey for the rest of his life. Passive, hunted in his own story. 

No more. Not when he knew she felt the same way. 

“Rose?” 

She started, then turned on her little pedestal to face him. Standing high above him, crowned by the beginnings of a snow flurry and haloed by a street lamp nearby, she ruined the angelic image by smirking down at him. 

“What are you still doing? I thought you’d be at home locked in your Kiss-A-Ginger-Day panic room.” 

He wrung out his hands. Asking her to make his wildest dreams come true, breaking with every rule and convention he had for himself and his personal decorum, had seemed so easy ten seconds ago, when she wasn’t staring at him like that, when her lips weren’t so close to his. “No. I was just thinking. I had a question that I wanted to ask you, but I understand that we - that you and I - are in a particularly interesting situation, and that, well, I mean, there is going to be some consideration regarding your answer - “

“Armitage.” 

She’d never said her name before. His heart - his entire world - stopped and bowed to her. Turning his head upward to face her looking up at her standing on the statue’s pedestal, he beheld her. Cool breaths escaped her lips and danced in the chilled night air. 

He wanted to kiss her. So, so badly. His lips ached for the not doing it. 

“What?”

“Just ask your question.” 

“I was wondering...does it count if the Ginger kisses you?” 

Rose’s smile grew. She laced her fingers around his collar, and pulled him into her. 

“Only if he’s going to keep kissing me after today.” 

What followed was the first of many, many kisses. Each one more perfect than the last. 


End file.
